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The Kittery outlets are one of the first in the country, and began with a Dansk factory outlet. Photo: Amy Root-Donle

She is 30 to 55 years old. Her family's income is roughly $75,000. She lives in the Boston area and is educated. She knows her designers, she knows their lines and she knows her prices.

And about four times a year, she hops in her car and travels north an hour or so just over the Piscataqua River Bridge and into Maine to shop at the Kittery Outlets.

Add to this woman the multitude of summer tourists coming into Maine who place a stop at Kittery on their itinerary and the local resident who sustains the stores year-round, and you end up with the 3 million people who shop the outlets each year.

Twenty-five years after the first outlet store opened on Route 1 here, the marketing research has been honed to a science.

"According to the state's data, the largest activity people do in this area is shop," said Lynn Smith, Kittery Outlet Association's marketing director. "And that's good for us."

The Kittery outlets are one of the first in the county, and began with a Dansk factory outlet. Soon, a Tanger outlet opened, one of the first in what is now a large, national chain of centers. The anchor draw was the Kittery Trading Post, a venerable sports and clothing store that opened in 1938.

"We know that 50 percent of the people who come here, stay for lunch or dinner, and many stay overnight.." Lynn Smith, Kittery Outlet Association marketing directory

"Because we have different owners, it's important that we have a centralized look. All you'll ever see in advertising and marketing is 'Kittery Outlets,' and the owners have worked together to create that," said Smith.

Outlet stores sell the products of only one brand name. Market research has shown people come to Kittery for a specific designer, such as Liz Claiborne or Nine West for shoes. Unlike typical retail operations, the centers will look to attract more than one of the same kind of product.

The theory, said Smith, is that if this woman from Boston comes to shop at Jones New York she will also be interested in checking out Calvin Klein, or Ralph Lauren, or Coldwater Creek.

And all of these retailers are quite content in Kittery. There is a 95 percent occupancy rate for the 120 stores, and a waiting list. "Typically they don't leave, and if they do it's because the corporation that owns them is closing their outlet stores," said Smith.

Almost none of the stores in Kittery are independents, but instead are owned by ever-larger corporations that buy out smaller ones. She said most rely on their outlets, going so far as to produce lines that are only available in them.

"A lot of people think we're filled with stuff that didn't sell in the retail stores, but that's not the case," she said. "We're on the same calendar as retail."

She concedes that the Kittery stores likely are in competition with the Fox Run Mall in Newington, where department stores sell many of the same brand names. But even the sales tax in Maine, she said, does not deter shoppers from coming over the bridge.

"Have you ever tried to drive through here on a busy summer weekend?" she asked.

But she maintains that Kittery is more of a complement than a competitor for businesses in downtown Portsmouth, which typically has unique and unusual niche stores. "They're very different markets," she said.

"We know that 50 percent of the people who come here, stay for lunch or dinner, and many stay overnight," she said. "I know they're shopping and eating in Portsmouth. The longer we can keep them here, it benefits everybody."

The outlets aren't going to be getting any larger. After a developer tried to build a new center in 2000, causing outrage among Kittery residents, and the zoning was changed. Now, any new retail space on Route 1 must include a second use, such as offices or a hotel.

The outlets comprise the largest single taxpayer in the town, and including the restaurants and the Trading Post, brought in $1.5 million to Kittery in 2004, the latest figure available.

They also employ more than 1,000 people, 90 percent of whom are from the Seacoast area. Smith works with area communities, too, offering special discounts to businesses, hosting a teacher of the month program, and donating to area nonprofits.

"We're here to stay," she said.